[Taxacom] Biodiversity in the news

[Stephen Thorpe]

yep, the only way to estimate biodiversity is to describe and document that diversity. Then, the number of taxa documented is the best estimate we have of the actual biodiversity, perhaps with some sort of rough measure of how easy it is to find undocumented taxa in each group in given areas. In other words, we have to do the taxonomy to know the biodiversity, there is no "short cut". I recall that Project Wallace in the 1980s allegedly found 600 new species of the relatively small beetle family Mordellidae in Sulawesi, of which, to my knowledge, still only 1 new species has been documented/described! 
 
We don't yet even have a robust estimate of the number of described taxa (across all groups) currently treated as valid ...
 
So much work to do, so little funding ...
 
Stephen

From: "Don.Colless at csiro.au" <Don.Colless at csiro.au>
To: stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Sent: Friday, 26 August 2011 6:51 PM
Subject: RE: [Taxacom] Biodiversity in the news

Many years ago I spent some time trying to estimate the number pf species in a relatively small area (the Northern Territory of Australia). Using various recommended techniques, the results showed that my search was futile. All techniques inserted an arbitrary value for a vital parameter.

Donald H. Colless
CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences
GPO Box 1700
Canberra 2601
don.colless at csiro.au
tuz li munz est miens envirun
________________________________________
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Stephen Thorpe [stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz]
Sent: 24 August 2011 14:08
To: Michael Heads; Richard Pyle
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Biodiversity in the news

all just stabs in the dark!


________________________________
From: Michael Heads <michael.heads at yahoo.com>
To: Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org>
Cc: "taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, 24 August 2011 3:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Biodiversity in the news

Hi Richard,

In the latest Syst Biol (early access) Costello et al. estimated there are 1.8 - 2 million (0.3 million marine) species, not 8.7 million as in the PLoS paper.  Quite a difference.

Michael Heads

Wellington, New Zealand.


My papers on biogeography are at: http://tiny.cc/RiUE0

From: Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org>
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu; ICZN Zoological Nomenclature Discussion Group <iczn-list at afriherp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, 24 August 2011 2:33 PM
Subject: [Taxacom] Biodiversity in the news

Apologies for the cross-posting, but it seems that a recent publication of
an estimate for the total number of species on Earth has put biodiversity in
the spotlight (within the top-three Science & Technology stories on Google
news).

See:
http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=d5aw5ehpXOkr8SMoJdms_aUYLBQgM

As usual, Carl Zimmer has a particularly well-written piece (in the New Your
Times):
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/science/30species.html

Whether or not you agree with the recently published estimate, I think it's
always (well....usually, anyway) good to see biodiversity issues draw such
high-profile attention.

Aloha,
Rich

Richard L. Pyle, PhD
Database Coordinator for Natural Sciences
Associate Zoologist in Ichthyology
Dive Safety Officer
Department of Natural Sciences, Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817
Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252
email: deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/staff/pylerichard.html




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